Kurt Busch rolls to win at AMS

If it’s not one Busch brother winning NASCAR races at Atlanta Motor Speedway, it’s the other.

In Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500, it was older brother Kurt’s turn to celebrate.

Driving the No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge, he dominated the race, leading 234 of 330 laps to get his second win at AMS and the 19th of his career.

The only time Busch looked slow was on his victory lap, which he made in reverse around the 1.54-mile oval.

His win gave the family a sweep at AMS as his brother Kyle, who entered the 500 as the defending winner, won Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series race. Kyle Busch also won last week’s Cup race at Las Vegas.

“I’ve got to hold my end of the bargain because Kyle’s on the gas right now,” Busch said in Victory Lane.

Despite leading the lion’s share of the laps, often by a straightaway or more over second place, Busch did have to race hard at the end. A late-race caution gave his challengers one last crack at him, but Busch proved to be too strong.

Carl Edwards, a three-time Cup winner at AMS, took just right-side tires for the final two-lap sprint to the finish and lined up with the lead over second-running Busch. But Busch, with four fresh Goodyears, bolted to the lead off Turn Two on the restart and sped away to his first win since June at New Hampshire.

Jeff Gordon, who also took four tires, also passed Edwards to take the runner-up spot, his second of the season. His resurgence after a winless 2008 appears to be gathering steam.

“We haven’t reached our full potential yet,” said Gordon, who pushed his points lead to 43 over second-place Clint Bowyer, who finished sixth in the 500.

Kevin Harvick finished fourth ahead of Brian Vickers, who was running a strong second just prior to the last restart. But a slow pit stop put him back in sixth for the restart

“Unfortunately we lost it on the last pit stop,” Vickers said.

For most of the race there were less than 10 drivers on the lead lap due to a dangerous move by crew member Jimmy Watts, gas man on Marcos Ambrose’s No. 47 Toyota. He ran onto the grassy area between pit road and the race track to retrieve an errant tire in the midst of green-flag pit stops, bringing out the caution flag and trapping many contenders a lap or more down. He was immediately suspended by NASCAR officials.

Polesitter Mark Martin crashed in Turn Two on Lap 216. His 31st-place finish, coming on the heels of blown engines at Auto Club and Las Vegas, leaves him 35th in the owner points standings, which are used to determine guaranteed starting spots for future races.

The four drivers with local connections had disappointing days.

Peachtree City’s Reed Sorenson suffered a mechanical failure on the second lap. His No. 43 Dodge slapped the wall, and he spent 60 laps in the garage. He returned to the race and finished 33rd.

David Ragan, Bill Elliott and Joey Logano all were lapped by Kurt Busch before Lap 50.

Elliott, from Dawsonville, crashed on Lap 204 when his path was blocked by the spinning Dodge of Sam Hornish Jr.

Logano, a one-time Alpharetta resident, finished 30th, six laps in arrears. Unadilla’s David Ragan was best of the bunch, finishing 19th despite two close calls off Turn Four.